Guided missile control system



REMO TE GOIII TROL I-PE CE I V5? 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 //VI EIVTO/'? I CHARLES J. MARSHALL ATTORNEY l I I I v I J Sept. 6, 1949. c. J. MARSHALL GUIDED MISSILE CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Aug. 28, 1945 TRANSMITTER 0 TELEVISION TRANSMITTER 3T4 TIOIV TELEVISION HECE/I/EI? STA now 'A FIG. I

Sept. 6, 1949.

C. J. MARSHALL GUIDED MISSILE CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Aug. 28, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.3

ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 6, 1949 ES. PATENT 2;4s0,ses

I fGiIiIDED MISSILE coN'rnoLsYsTEM.

flharle's 'J; Marshall, Dayton, Ohio applicationAugustzs, 1.945, Serial'No. 613,198

(o1. Mil-+6.8)

(Granted. under the act of March a, 1883,, as.

2 Claims.

signed operate with: guided. missiles.

Remote controisystems: for usewith guided" mis'sil'es, projectile or salt-propelled; have been developed that; employ a: television: pick-up tube or icoiios'cope-" located: in the anose of the guided missile for transmitting to the controller. a pictureof immediately infront of. the missile. In the systemsnow in use the only; indication the operat'or' lias thati thehontrolsignals he transmits are beingreceived by the guided missile is the change, in the terrain shown on his television receiver. Whilethis indication is entirely Satisfactory. insomeconditions it isinadequate in others. For example, if. research. is being performed, on a, new type of, contro1 system it would-be valuable to know whether the failure; of a missile to respondito a control: sig= naliwas dumto the failure of theemissile to receive the control. signals, or failureof; the servo rmechanismin the; missiles. Ancthen example of. the needifoltimcrje accurate information on the flight ,of-f a. missile is, experienced? when the missile apparently goes out of control. In many cases this could be diie tbnthefalluiie ofs'th'e servo mechanism.in-.the missile or it. may. be due to spurious signals that. are being received. by the. missile thatare of, a proper frequency, codeget'c to maneuver the missile. If" the latter condition exists, it may'be pos'siblat'o take-steps to remove thespurious signalsdurce:

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to proyidemeanswhereby. the controllenof a guided missile ha s instantaneous acurateinformation.- as. to the signals being received .by. the control apparatus in the guided missilmonobiect.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a system that makes the maximum use of equipment already employed in guided missiles so that a minimum of additional equipment is required.

For a better understanding of the invention, together with other and further objects thereof,

reference is had to the following description amended April 30,. 1928; 370 O. G. '757) Fig. 3 is an illustrative drawing'showing one application of theinventiom Referring now more particularly. to Fig. l of the drawing there are shown a remote control transmitter m'and a remote'control receiver l2.

Relays M, I6, I8 and zflzshown connected to receiver i zgare operated; by; appropriate signals.

fromtransmitter l0. Manyremote'control systems employsuch relays: and those systems that do not may easily be modified; to include these relays. For the purpose of thisexplanation; it will be assumed that thesearelays-are normally employed in the remotecontroli systemand that contacts 22'on-various relays' are the contacts used to control the servom'echanisms in the 28; 30; 32 and 34; A- second terminalon lamp- 28 is connected, to a contact38e on. relay [4; In

a similarmanner, tenninalszon lamps 30; 3 2: and- 34 are connected to terminals); 42 and: 44- on' relays l6,- l 8 and 2.0; respectively: Lamps" 28, -30, 3-2'and-34 aresoplacedsthat. each illuminates a small-spot on the mosaic. screen Mintv a television transmitting tube( iconoscope 48; Tube 48'is connected to a televisiontransmitter 50. Tube 48 and :transmitter 50. arenorma'lly' employed in an existing remote'control-system. .A- televisionreceiver' 52 isprovided i30 receive signals from transmitter 50 and to supply appropriate signals to a television viewing screen 54.

In Fig. 1 the equipment is shown: divided between two stations, namel :Stat-iom A and Station B; Station As in thisexample-isthe-control station and may be located on the ground, in a ship or in an aircraft. Station B is located in the guided missile.

Fig. 2 shows the preferred means of illumihating the mosaic screen 46 of Fig. 1 with the lamps Z8, 30, 32 and 34. Parts in Fig. 2 are numbered to correspond with like parts in Fig. 1. In Fig. 2, lens 50 represents schematically the objective lens normally employed to focus the image of the terrain or field on screen 46. Light shields E2 and lenses 64 are employed to focus the light from the lamps on a small point on screen 46. If four lamps and a rectangular screen 46 are employed it may be convenient to focus one spot of light near the midpoint of each of the four sides of the rectangle although any other spots may be chosen if desired. The spots of light focused on screen 46 are of Very low intensity so as not to obscure the image normally present on this mosaic screen.

For purposes of illustration, assume that this system is to be employed to control a guided missile and that relay I 4 controls the up movement, relay Hi the right movement, relay Hi the down" movement and relay 2!) the left movement of the guided missile.

Fig. 3 shows guided missile 10 headed for a target T. The control station is located in an aircraft I2. With no control signal being transmitted to missile 10 the controller will see on viewing screen 54 (Fig. 1) the target T and a portion of the surrounding area. If the controller decides that the missile I is headed to the right of the target, he sends a signal to missile to cause it to turnto the left. This signal closes relay 2!], Fig. 1, and through contacts 22 energizes the proper servo mechanisms. Closure of relay 20 also lights lamp 3-4. If the arrangement of lamps suggested above is used, the controller at Station A will see a small point of light appear on the left side of screen 54 indicating to him that a left signal has been received by Station B. In a similar manner an up signal sent by transmitter It causes relay M to close and a small point of light to apear at the top of screen 54. Right and down signals would cause similar spots of light to appear near the right side and the bottom of screen 54.

If no control signals are being transmitted from Station A to Station B, but missile I0 is seemingly operating in' response to received signals, a glance at screen 54 will indicate instantly which relays, if any, are closed.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that this invention is not limited to the control of airborne guided missiles. It may easily be adapted for use with remotely controlled missiles for use on land or water or even under water, and the number and arrangement of the lamps may be varied to indicate in the most convenient manner the status of the control elements in the remote missile.

In the foregoing specification and also in the claims the term missile has been given its generic meaning; this modern accepted meaning supplies a deficiency in language occasioned by rapid technological development. 7

While there has been described what is at presentconsidered the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention.

What is claimed is: V

1. An indicator system for use with remote .4 control equipment comprising a television transmitter including an "Iconosc0pe with a mosaic screen, a television receiver including a viewing screen, a remote control transmitter, a remote control receiver, at least four relays having first and second sets of contacts, each of said relays being adapted to close" its/contacts upon the receipt of a predetermined signal-from said remote control receiver, at least four lamps, means whereby each of said relays causes a different lamp to be illuminated when the contacts of said relay'are' closed, and means for causing the light from each of said lamps to be focused on a separate predetermined spot on a mosaic screen in said television transmitter, said spots of light thereby indicating on the viewing screen of said television receiver the relays that are closed.

2. An indicator system for use with remote control systems comprising a remote control transmitter, a remote control receiver located at a remote point, a plurality of relay means adapted to be operated individually and in combination by said receiver under the control of signals transmitted from said remote control transmitter, a television system including a transmitter located in proximity with said remote control receiver and a receiver located in proximity with said remote control transmitter, a plurality of lamps, means whereby said lamps are illuminated in a manner indicative of the relays that are closed at any particular instant by said remote control receiver, and means whereby the intellegence presented by said lamps is transmitted by said television system to the operator of said remote control transmitter.

CHARLES J. MARSHALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in'the Television, vol. IV, January 1947, pages, 357 to 368.

Proc. IRE, June 1946, pages 315 to 401.

Washington Evening Star, October 27, 1939, Air Torpedo, Guided by Television Latest Design Given U. S. 

